Learners have increasingly demanding expectations of sophisticated media and slick design, yet clients haven’t yielded on their requirements of quick turnaround times. Rapid development software, such as Articulate Storyline, has done wonders for Instructional Design efficiency, but that increased efficiency too often comes at the expense of high-quality aesthetics.
Here are three ways to quickly achieve the elevated design your stakeholders expect.
1. No One Wants To See Your GUI
While it is important to align your design to the client’s brand, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should use the bright colors of their logo in your GUI. Consider the follow techniques to ensure that your interface isn’t competing with the content for the user’s attention.
- While default grey may not seem like the most creative design choice, it can be a great basis for an elegant, user-friendly interface.
- Find other opportunities to incorporate the client’s brand palette, such as in the font color for the slide title, or as a background color for the HTML page.
- Keep your interface as clean as possible, removing unnecessary elements like superfluous tabs, links, or player controls.
- Consider a skinless interface; they look great and are easier to create than you think.
Remember, your interface should sit quietly in the background while your content takes center stage.
2. Cherry-Pick Your Pics
When you’re on a tight deadline and moving at light speed to complete a leadership course, it can be tempting to grab the first image you find of an executive leading a meeting. Even with time constraints, you must put real thought into how you choose and use your images.
- Does your image fit the mood you are trying to create for your content? Is the person leading the meeting confident or shy? Is the crowd engaged or disinterested?
- Should you crop or rescale the image to focus or direct the learner’s attention in some way?
- Take advantage of image sets offered by graphics sites such as Shutterstock and Corbis. That image you grabbed of an executive leading the meeting may be part of a larger collection of related images. He or she could also be found having a one-on-one conversation with a peer or talking on his phone in the hall. Use related images to thread the scenes together and create a more engaging story. And if you don’t have a subscription to a graphics site yet, get one immediately.
- Use stock video clips to add depth and life to your content. Video clips can work beautifully for section title slides.
3. Give Your Form A Function.
Once you’ve carefully selected your images, give thoughtful consideration to their placement.
- If it’s a full-bleed image, that is, not a cutout, or an image on a single color background, anchor it to at least one, ideally three, side of your content stage.
- Graphics at bottom right and text at top left is a Western standard, and it works. Stick with that, but deviate for purposeful effect.
- When designing a slide, pause to consider its abstract shape. Every screen has a form to it. From slide to slide, these forms can be used to support or undermine your message. Design your forms accordingly.